Am I closing my business? Absolutely not. I’m choosing instead to focus on increasing enrolments in my flagship business plan writing program, Business Plan Bootcamp, and adding new features and improvements to the course to make it the best business plan creation course in the world.

I decided to share my reasons for making this change, in the hopes that there’s something valuable you can take from it that will help you with your own business.

I’ve been thinking about this for several months and there are both business and personal reasons for my decision.

First, the business reasons:

The most helpful and successful business plans are written by the entrepreneurs themselves. Yes, I know exactly how to write a business plan so that your business will get funding. But with a little guidance, so do you. The most helpful and successful business plans are written by the entrepreneurs themselves. My Business Plan Bootcamp is designed to walk you through that process and make it possible for you to do this yourself. And it’s better if you do, because the process of writing the plan – from the research to the strategic development to the financing application – is where you get the most value. Business Plan Bootcamp delivers exactly that.

Removing a DFY service means I can focus more on the Bootcamp. The students there deserve more of my time and support.

My “niche” is still too broad. By taking my own advice more seriously and narrowing my target audience to people who want to do the work themselves, I’ll attract more of the audience I really want to work with and that I can serve best. The Bootcamp is perfect for retail, restaurant and health and wellness entrepreneurs who need bank financing for a physical location. I want to be known for that.

Now, the personal reasons:

I’m stretched too thin. In addition to Renegade Planner I also own a business with my husband, we have Airbnb suites, I teach at a university and I travel a lot. It’s too much and something had to go.

DFY is my least favorite work right now. It’s not my clients’ fault. I need a break from content creation. I work with many amazing people but my passion for writing isn’t there. It’ll come back probably, but that’s not where I’m at right now.

What happens now?

If you’d like to work with me you have a couple of options.

I’m still doing business plan coaching until the end of August, so if you’ve been thinking you’d like to work with me, I’m welcoming coaching clients for one-shot coaching sessions from now through the end of August. You can book one here. They are an outstanding bargain at $97 USD and I guarantee I can catapult you into action with your business. Book one!

The Business Plan Bootcamp is already an effective, thorough and accessible program and it’s only going to get better now that I’m focusing on it more. You can sign up for it here and you’ll get to interact with me inside the program anytime – I answer every discussion question personally. Check that out here – it’s not going anywhere.

So back to you and where you’re at with your business. If something doesn’t quite feel right, or you’re having trouble focusing on the work you do, perhaps it’s time to shake things up so you can better serve your best clients – and yourself.

]]>http://renegadeplanner.com/business-plans-2/quitting-done-for-you-business-plan-writing/feed/0The Solopreneur Myth: Why You Can’t Have a Successful Business all by Yourselfhttp://renegadeplanner.com/small-business-2/solopreneur-myth-why-you-cant-have-successful-business-by-yourself/
http://renegadeplanner.com/small-business-2/solopreneur-myth-why-you-cant-have-successful-business-by-yourself/#respondWed, 31 May 2017 01:55:14 +0000http://renegadeplanner.com/?p=6212Read More »]]>

For millions of people, the dream of screwing the 9-to-5 is the ultimate objective. That side hustle that finally becomes your main source of income. And when we say goodbye to the cubicle, we think we’re free. We look forward to days on end in our slippers, control over our own schedules, and the time to cook extravagant meals daily in preparation for a Top Chef audition.

For an introvert like me, it’s a dream come true. Until you realize you haven’t spoken to anyone outside your home in a week. You’re frantically searching Facebook groups for answers to your business questions, but without the right context, people can’t give you the right advice. Your family doesn’t understand what you’re going through and your friends don’t even understand how you’re making money.

You’re alone. And it SUCKS.

Here’s the story of how I got out of the solopreneur silo.

In 2014, I persuaded Danny Iny of Mirasee to meet with me. I went to dinner with him and his wife. I had ulterior motives heading into that meeting. See, Danny was already building Firepole Marketing (that’s what Mirasee used to be called) into an amazing business at that time and did I ever want to be part of it.

I was running my business mostly by myself, with some part-time contractors. I didn’t really have a plan for how I wanted to grow it but I knew I wanted to get in front of his audience. He must have seen that I had no plan and any sort of joint venture would probably have been disastrous. Instead, he invited me to join his brand new mastermind group. I didn’t even know what a mastermind was, but if Danny said I should be in, I was in.

And holy shit did that change things.

You see, I’m a solopreneur. Yes, I’ve been running Renegade Planner for seven years. You’d think I’d have a full-fledged agency by now, but being in a mastermind group has helped me realize that a big company isn’t what I want. What I was craving all along was a sounding board – a place where I could share ideas, get feedback, offer advice and support to others and create a little business family, without actually having to add any people to my business.

The result? I don’t feel lonely anymore. I have people who understand what I do, have similar experiences, and know how to support me. I get to offer all of that to them in return.

Being in a mastermind group has changed my life. I get:

Mentorship and support

Advice that comes from experience

Access to many of the products, tools, and services that our members have created

Friendship <3 <3 <3

A broader network of business connections

Accountability when I need it…and the occasional swift (virtual) kick in the ass

Plus, they call me out on my bullshit at exactly the right times, which is probably the best part.

So, do you ever get lonely in your business?

Did you know that being part of a mastermind group can resolve that loneliness AND help you grow a successful business at the same time?

When your friends and family don’t “get” what you’re doing…when you’ve been wearing the same shirt for four straight days and haven’t ventured further than the grocery store…when you don’t know who to talk to or who to ask questions about your business…having a mastermind group at your back is a game changer.

I credit my mastermind group for improving my profitability, helping me bring a second business to multiple six figures, and for supporting me in becoming a more confident entrepreneur.

Do you want the same thing?

Enter: The Ignition Club.

In early 2017, I started the Ignition Club to give back to my clients and my audience the same way the mastermind I’m part of supports me. And I’d like to bring a few new members into the group – people who don’t want to be alone in their businesses anymore and need a personal “Advisory Board” to keep them excited and help them ignite their businesses.

I’m careful about who I accept. I keep the group small on purpose – I’m looking for people who are going to put in what they get out, who add diversity, personality, and energy to the group.

Is it exclusive? Yes, but right now, the price isn’t. Keep reading to find out more.

TOTAL VALUE: $6,313 +++

Peer mentoring gives you the benefit of learning from other people’s experiences, which minimizes your mistakes and helps you grow your business faster.

Quarterly reviews keep you on track and help you know exactly where to focus, so you don’t get overwhelmed.

The chance to meet in person makes you accountable for your actions and helps you get more done in less time.

Ongoing email threads let you bounce business decisions off of other people in a similar stage of business as you – so you make better decisions overall

What could that mean for you?

A company that grows faster and more profitably

Lower expenses and less time spent on trial and error

People to celebrate your success with – who really get you

Like having a personal advisory board for your business

Membership is almost 50% off for anyone whose application is accepted before June 10, 2017. If you want to find out what being in a mastermind group can do you for you and your business, I encourage you to apply now.

Wouldn’t it be nice to have a personal advisory board for your business, who you could call on whenever you had a question, or you were struggling to make an important business decision?

Well, now you have exactly that.

See, you really can’t grow your business alone. But that doesn’t mean you have to hire a team, take on a partner, or do anything that expensive or risky – at least not right now.

When people grumble about how hard it is to write a business plan, they usually say it’s either the financials or the market research they find most overwhelming. Market research is hard for two reasons

When there is a lot of information to sort through, it’s difficult to decide what’s relevant

Where there isn’t enough information to sort through, it never feels finished.

Google “how to do market research” and you’ll get plenty of ideas about how to gather data, but almost no guidance on how to parse and interpret your findings. Or what to do if you can’t find any findings.

I’ll let you in on a little secret: market research isn’t overwhelming or difficult if you know what you’re looking for. If you want to research the market for your products, the first thing you need to know is exactly who the market is. That’s right; you need to know your ideal customer.

People find market research overwhelming because their work is unfocused. If your ideal customer is a 40-something single dad with a child under age ten, you don’t need to spend time figuring out how many working couples with teenagers might also buy your product.

Step one is to focus ALL your market research on finding out as much about your ideal customer as you can. Unless there aren’t enough of those people to keep you in business, you don’t have to research anyone else (at least not right now).

Once you’ve defined that person, it’s time to dive headfirst into all the data, statistics, news articles and surveys you can find.

Combing Statistics

The first thing you need to do is gather as much data as you can. Government census statistics, market surveys from large corporations, and municipal data sets are great places to start. If you have time, you can also run your own surveys or conduct interviews with potential customers to get their feedback on your product or determine their buying behavior. If you’re in Canada, start with Statistics Canada and then look for the stats web site of the province you live in. If you’re in the US, start with the Bureau of Labor Statistics before gathering additional information from your state government web site. Finally, take it down to the municipal level and see if your city has neighborhood-specific information (if that’s relevant for you).

Don’t worry yet about whether you’re gathering data you’ll eventually use or not. If you think it might be relevant, grab it. Create an Evernote folder to keep your sources organized.

Got a bunch of information? Here’s what to do with it.

Once you think you have gathered enough data and you’re ready to figure out which statistics are useful for your business plan, take another look at your Ideal Customer narrative. Are they 43 years old? Great – you can set aside data that doesn’t relate to that age group (within about a 5-year range). Do they earn more than $50k per year? Scrap statistics for lower income households. Keep narrowing until you’re left only with demographic information that gives you insight into your ideal customer.

Use that information to determine the market size of your ideal customer segment – that is, the number of potential customers who share mostly the same demographic characteristics as your ideal customer. If your ideal customer is a 43-year old married mother in Toledo Ohio, in a household where both parents work and their collective income is $80,000 per year or more, you should be able to use demographic data to estimate how many double income households with kids exist in Toledo. Then narrow that down by the percentage of total households earning $80k or more. Then narrow that down by the number of women between age 40-50.

If it turns out that only a few people exist who fit that target customer segment – you either need to expand your market or change your business model. Assuming it’s the former, you can repeat this process for multiple customer segments.

Remember that you’ll never find the perfect data set that tells you everything you need. And sometimes, federal statistics will disagree with municipal statistics, due to differences in the data collection methodology. Get comfortable with this. Come to logical conclusions. Explain them in your business plan. This will be enough for most lenders and investors.

Deciding what’s Relevant

After your demographic market analysis, you should also look at your market’s buying behavior and other, more subjective characteristics. What influences them? How do they make buying decisions? Is this market segment growing or shrinking? How are they evolving?

This type of analysis can be tougher because it relies on you to interpret survey results that might not quite fit your ideal customer definition, or to draw conclusions from news sources with limited and sometimes biased information.

Industry surveys, market research reports (if you can get your hands on them – they’re expensive!) and news articles can give you clues into how your ideal customer behaves. But you have to be able to trust your sources.

Look for reports from media outlets that are known to be credible – think Harvard Business Review, New York Times, or your local news station. If you find a Google search result with a click-bait headline and no author, you need to do some more digging.

Try to find the author’s name and see what else they’ve written – do they appear to be a subject matter expert, or do they write on everything from health supplements to battery technology? If an article presents survey results, who sponsored the survey? I once saw a new story about a healthy eating survey, in which every single image had Kellogg’s products in the background. The small print indicated that Kellogg’s had sponsored the survey and unsurprisingly, the report focused on the health benefits of several specific ingredients found in Kellogg’s products. Yikes.

So you're starting a business, are you?

You're going to need a Kick-Ass Business Plan. This blog post will help - but I've got a 5-part video series that's even better.
Sign up to get instant access, and a free simple outline too!

Your information will *never* be shared or sold to a 3rd party.

So before you allow confirmation bias to get in the way of using objective, credible sources to help understand your market, make sure you’re working with real information.

A little side note: Many people mix up market research with industry analysis. Market research is all about understanding your customers: how many of them might exist, how they behave, how much they’ll spend, and whether they make up a growing or a shrinking group.

Industry analysis is about how the other companies in your industry operate. It’s more closely related to competition. We’ll save that discussion for another post.

It’s Not Over when the Business Plan is Done

Market research is something you have to stay on top of. Doing it once for your business plan won’t help you in two years when your customer segments have changed, or some macro factor like the national economy or a federal election has affected the way they spend. While you don’t need to obsess over market analysis for too many hours when you write your plan (8-10 hours is more than enough), you should come back to your business plan from time to time and update the analysis.

The better you understand what your customers are doing, the clearer your path to reach them and the more likely you are to stand out among companies like yours.

Know your customers better than they know themselves. It sounds creepy – but it works!

]]>http://renegadeplanner.com/business-plans-2/last-market-research-guide-youll-ever-have-read/feed/0The Ultimate Guide to Business Budgeting in 2017 (and beyond)http://renegadeplanner.com/small-business-finance/ultimate-guide-business-budgeting-2017/
http://renegadeplanner.com/small-business-finance/ultimate-guide-business-budgeting-2017/#respondWed, 25 Jan 2017 02:07:27 +0000http://renegadeplanner.com/?p=6189Read More »]]>What’s it going to cost to run your business this year?

What’s that? You don’t know?

Well, that’s a problem.

If you’ve been operating for at least a year, you might be inclined to assume it’ll cost the same to run your business this year as it did last year. But that’s a dangerous assumption. Your service providers probably increase their prices every year. The online tools you use might cost more when you renew your subscription. Or maybe your business is set to grow this year (yay!) – in which case, your expenses are definitely going up.

Perhaps you’re not in business yet but you’re planning to start this year. Lucky you – you have TWO budgets to do! If you have no idea what your business will earn or what you’ll be able to afford, budgeting is even more important; the focus is just a little different.

No matter how long you’ve been running your business, an annual budgeting exercise is essential to your company’s health. Oddly we often avoid it because we don’t like to think about expenses. Entrepreneurs (and I’m guilty of this too) tend to focus too much on top line revenue and not enough on understanding their expenses so they can see when they actually begin to profit. Sure, it takes a little more analysis, but it’s really not that hard and it’s SO essential for understanding how well your business is performing.

So let’s take a look at how to develop a start-up and an operating budget for your business. The key here is to be realistic, not dreamy. Be conservative about your revenue expectations and add some contingency to your expenses, and make the budget work.

THEN CRUSH IT. And celebrate your higher-than-expected profits at the end of this year!

How to Create a Start-Up Budget

(Already in business? Just skip to the next section)

A lot of people ask me how they can possibly create a start-up budget when they have no idea just how big some of their major expenses will be. The trick to figuring out what it’ll cost to start your business is to avoid focusing on the numbers.

Let me explain.

First, we have to define a start-up budget. The start-up budget is ONLY the money you have to spend before you ever open for business. So it might include a rent deposit, but not your actual rent. Maybe wages for training, but not salaries. Make sense? Great.

The trick is to figure out what you need to spend money on, before worrying about the actual cost. So start with line items. What are the essential start-up costs? Things like:

Business registration and a license

Website development

Pre-launch advertising

Renovations

Equipment and inventory purchases

That sort of thing. Keep writing things down until you’ve exhausted that list. Thought of everything? Okay, now it’s time to start adding numbers to each line item.

Begin with the easy stuff. It’s easy to find out exactly what a business license costs – just go look it up on your municipality’s website.

Once you’ve nailed down all the precise numbers you can, it’s time for some research. Need tools for your framing business? Call a couple of places that sell contractor-grade tools and get a written quote. If you have to renovate a space for a storefront, get at least two people to give you quotes (do this EVEN IF your brother is “taking care of it for you” or you “know someone”. Friends deals often fall through, so you need to know you can afford a backup plan).

If you just can’t nail down a reliable number, include a range, or make two budgets – an all out, everything and the kitchen sink budget, and a bootstrapper’s budget with just the essentials.

Got your list? Add up the total and see if the number scares you. If it does, then look at what you could cut. But here’s where you have to be a bit careful; you should never eliminate an unavoidable expense (like legal fees or permits). You should also consider what experience you want your customers to have when they first encounter your business and don’t cut any expense that might jeopardize that experience.

For example – let’s say you’re opening a retail store with curated high-end products designed for contemporary homes. You wouldn’t want to build your display shelving out of plywood and screws just to save a buck, would you? The type of customer you’re targeting would see right away that you cheaped out on finishings, and wonder if your products are low quality, too. Don’t threaten your brand from the beginning. Spend money where you need to, but shop for deals on the essentials if you have to.

Of course, you probably won’t spend your whole start-up budget at once; you’ll progress towards your grand opening over several weeks or months. Keep careful track of your actual spending to see if you’re on budget. Wherever you save money, you can increase your budget in other areas.

Here’s a Hot Tip

Open a business bank account as soon as you register your company so you can keep track of your spending more easily. I promise it’s harder to separate your personal expenses from your business expenses than you think it is. So do it right from the start. Your bookkeeper will thank you!

How to Create an Operating Budget

Your start-up budget is one thing, but the minute you launch your business, you also have to contend with operating expenses. If you don’t know what it costs every month just to keep the lights on, you could run out of cash before you’re bringing in enough revenue to cover your costs!

So, you need a budget forecast – at least for your first year, and longer if you’re going for any external financing. If you’re in business already, lucky you! You can start with last year’s expenses and review them to see how they’ll change this year.

Fortunately, the process to create an operating budget is similar to creating a start-up budget:

List all the costs of running your business (without any numbers attached)

Add actual costs (in dollars) for the fixed expenses you know about (like rent, which should be the same every month)

Add estimates for the costs you don’t exactly know

To budget expenses that only happen once or twice a year (like an insurance payment, or conference travel), you can simply average them out over 12 months if that makes it easier to determine your average monthly costs. We’re not doing a cash flow analysis (yet), so the timing of the expenses isn’t relevant; we’re just trying to figure out how much, on average, you’ll be putting out every month to stay open.

Once you know this number, you also know your break-even point – that is, the revenue you must bring in every month to cover your operating expenses.

You don’t need a fancy tool for this; a simple Excel spreadsheet will do.

Sidewalk:

Here's a Step-By-Step Checklist for Starting Your Business
(it's FREE, it's one page, and it'll get you organized)

Introduce yourself and your program

Your information will *never* be shared or sold to a 3rd party.

But What about Cash Flow?

Having a budget is great, but timing is everything when it comes to staying on track with your business spending. If you have too much money going out before money comes in, your business can get into deep trouble fast. And we don’t want that!

That’s why it’s important to understand cash flow – the timing of money coming into and flowing out of your business.

Ever been short on money or had to get a payday advance because your rent was due before payday? That’s a cash flow problem. Yes you earned enough that month to cover your rent, but because of the timing of your expenses, you ended up temporarily in the red.

But if that happens in your business, you’re out of business. Fast.

So consider the way you collect money. If your customers pay 100% of their purchase on the spot – like at a restaurant – great. But even then, you have to wait a couple of business days for credit card transactions to clear, so there’s still a lag.

It’s crucial to stay aware of not just how much money you earn, but when you actually collect it and make sure there’s always enough in the bank to cover you until you get paid for real.

Don’t Be Afraid of Numbers

If you want to be a successful entrepreneur, finances need to excite you, not scare you. You don’t need to become an accountant, but you do need to be confident about what level of spending you’re comfortable with. If you remember that a budget is a tool and a guide – and you don’t have to freak out if you can’t follow it exactly – then looking at your expenses becomes an empowering exercise, not a chore or a burden.

The key is to understand what you need to spend money on first – and then build actual numbers into your budget. This helps you avoid throwing up your hands in frustration because you don’t have exact numbers to work with.

One more hot tip: you should make every business spending decision with your customers’ best interests in mind.

Don’t make spending choices based on fear (fear of spending too much, fear of not getting a return on investment). There’s a simple way to make better choices about business expenses: when you’re struggling about whether to buy something, ask yourself: will this improve the experience for my best customers?

If not – slash it or eliminate it.

Now get to some number crunching!

Got a budgeting question? Pop it into the comments. I’ll answer every single thread.

Think writing a business plan is hard? I sympathize – I promise. After writing hundreds of them over the years, I’ve developed a process to write them better and write them fast – and I’d like to share it with you.

Why would I share the exact techniques I charge thousands of dollars to implement for my clients? Because, in all honesty, even if you think writing a business plan is a task you just can’t handle, you can.

While for a lot of people it makes sense to hire me to write a business plan – especially if they need help with their strategy, and they are looking for $200,000 in financing or more – a lot more people will benefit more from the process of doing it themselves.

Writing a business plan teaches you a lot about business. Especially about YOUR business. So for those who don’t need a ton of external financing, or are funding the business themselves, you should use these hacks (and this framework) instead of hiring a consultant. At least for now.

Hack #1: Toss the Template

Templates are rigid, linear, and sequential. Your business isn’t. So stop trying to put it into that form right off the bat, and brainstorm the heck out of your planning process first.

Hack #2: Put Yourself in the Customer’s Shoes

Struggling to decide on your operating hours? Trying to decide between a food truck or a retail space? Don’t know what business policies to create? Answer these questions from your best potential customer’s perspective. Think about what they’d want, or what would provide the best experience for them. Whenever you’re struggling with a business question, remember that your ideal customers can probably provide the answer.

Hack #3: Budget High

Everything costs more than you think it does. Everything. Overbudget and cut later.

So you're starting a business, are you?

You're going to need a Kick-Ass Business Plan. This blog post will help - but I've got a 5-part video series that's even better.
Sign up to get instant access, and a free simple outline too!

Your information will *never* be shared or sold to a 3rd party.

Hack #4: Visit Your Competitors

Don’t be afraid…go in, sample the wares, ask questions. Even if you disclose that you’re planning to open a similar business, you’d be surprised how often your “competitors” are willing to help. Chances are, your business is different enough that competition won’t get ugly. If it does, well…don’t blame me.

Hack #5: Cap Your Research

You can research data and statistics for days and days. Include only what matters to your ideal customer. If you are selling handmade earrings to thirty-something women, it doesn’t matter how many fifty-year-olds live nearby – EVEN if they might buy from you too. Focus your research on your primary customers.

Hack #6: Write the Executive Summary Last

It boggles my mind how many people try to write a summary of their plan before they’ve written the plan. Seriously. Don’t do that. It’s backwards.

Hack #7: Look Ahead. No, Further

What does your business look like 3 years from now? Five? Ten? Of course, you can’t know for sure, but the clearer your vision is for what you want to create, the easier it is to outline the steps to getting there.

Hack #8: Be Transparent

If you do decide to look for a loan or an investment to help you start your business, you better be sure you have a spending plan for their money. Would you loan your cousin ten grand for “school” without knowing what he specifically needs the money for, and without a plan to pay it back?

Nope. Well, I hope not, anyway. So your business plan needs to show very clearly how you will be spending someone else’s cash, as well as when and how they’ll get it back (ideally, with interest!).

Next time you sit down to work on your business plan, apply these hacks and see if they don’t move you along just a little bit faster.

Got more questions? Pop them into the comments below and tell me what you need.

At least, that’s what we keep hearing from investment gurus, lean start-up enthusiasts and tech mavens who would like to think they’re all action, all the time.

Instead of writing a business plan, we’re now told to create a “business model canvas”. Guess what, folks: that’s the same thing with a different name.

You see, planning isn’t sexy.

That’s why it’s either given a fancy name, or you’re told you don’t need to do it.

But those “experts” are lying when they say business plans are dead.

They tell you instead to create a Minimum Viable Product, to test it on your market, to rebuild, reiterate, and “pivot” until you’ve got something consumers can’t live without. But in order to do any of those things well, you have to plan. You simply have to.

You can cook without a recipe, but you still had to make a grocery list and go buy the ingredients. There is still a plan – just not a conventional one.

You can drive without a destination, but you still have to know how much gas you need to make it to the next station. You still have to plan your travels such that you don’t end up sleeping in your car at the top of a mountain when it’s ten below freezing.

Yes, it’s true that no one wants to read a 50-page tome packed with meaningless charts and a 3-page bibliography. Yes, the expected format of a business plan has changed. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t create one.

Every single successful company did.

You want to see how well planning works? Well, here are some “shocking” facts.

The University of Tennessee studied many business failures and found that the #1 reason why small businesses failed was “incompetence.” And incompetence means

What solves poor pricing? Researching the market and planning out your strategy. What solves living beyond the means of the business? Financial planning and cash flow forecasting. What solves a lack of understanding of the market, finances or anything else to do with the business? That’s right. Planning.

The unsexy, boring stuff.

Except it’s not boring, because if you do it, you increase your chances of success. And if you increase your chances of success, you make more money. And if you make more money, you help more people. And if you help more people, you really get to enjoy everything there is to enjoy about entrepreneurship.

It’s all about planning at the beginning.

So, when “they” tell you to act while everyone else is planning, remember that it’s easy for them to say that, because they did all their planning while you weren’t looking.

Now, let’s assume you’re on board with this whole planning thing.

Call it a business plan, call it a business model canvas, call it a business map, framework or blueprint. A plan is a plan by any other name…so what’s the best way to create yours?

So you're starting a business, are you?

You're going to need a Kick-Ass Business Plan. This blog post will help - but I've got a 5-part video series that's even better.
Sign up to get instant access, and a free simple outline too!

Your information will *never* be shared or sold to a 3rd party.

3 Steps to Starting Your Business Plan

You’ve got the great idea and now it’s time to act on it, but you have no clue what order to do things in. There’s no singular way that works for all businesses, but three steps I always start with are:

Get crystal clear about the problem you solve, and who you solve it for. In other words, what kind of people will see your solution and immediately raise their hands exclaiming, “yes! I need this!”? Write down everything about those people, from their hair color to their personal values. You want to be creating your business plan from that person’s perspective. Everything you do, you do it for them, including the way you plan.

Figure out how that problem is being solved now. In other words, what solutions are your customers currently using, which are so inadequate? If you’re starting the only mobile hair salon in town then right now, your future customers have to travel to the salon, which might be hard if they struggle with mobility for any reason or don’t have vehicles or have to commute really far. This exercise not only helps you figure out what sets your business apart and makes it unique, but it also helps you identify your current competition. SUPER useful for planning.

Sketch out a budget. It doesn’t have to be anything fancy, and the numbers can be made up in your head (but it’s better if they are more educated guesses…). But you have to begin somewhere so brainstorm all of the potential costs associated with your startup. Literally, everything you can think of. Now add up the numbers. How does that total feel to you? If it seems totally out of reach, what number feels more comfortable? Over time, as you develop your business plan, you’ll get a lot closer to the actual costs and you can develop a budget that suits your needs.

Once you’ve got these three things accomplished, you’ve already done more planning than most people ever attempt.

And if you want to take it a step further to build your confidence even further and get even more organized, try this free 5-part business plan video course. It’s short and sweet – and guaranteed to move you forward!

So you’re standing at the base of a mountain. You’re looking at the top, you know you want to be at the top, and glorious things await you there.

Conceptually, you know you pretty much just need to go UP to get where you want to be.

But you’d rather not get trapped and have to saw off your own arm along the way.

So you need to do a little planning.

In the absence of a Sherpa, however, you’re going to have to take your own best guess.

But that doesn’t mean you can’t do it without a little structure.

A lot of the tasks we take on in our business are overwhelmingly huge when we get started.

BUT – there’s a tolerably simple method you can use to break the mountain down into a series of achievable sections that you can tackle one by one to get to the top.

Let’s go through them.

Do you REALLY know where the top is?

The first step is getting really clear on exactly what is at the top of your personal mountain. Is it an income goal? Is it mastery of a new technology? Is it a number of users for your product or service? Is it a funnel that works on it’s own?

Next, you need to know when you want it to be accomplished by. A month? Six months? This time next year? As soon as possible?

Nail these details down so you know what you’re looking for, and be as specific as possible.

· What are you trying to accomplish?

· When do you want it to be done?

This gives you a milestone and a deadline.

It might look something like this:

“I want to increase my website traffic to 3000 visitors per month so that I can launch a membership community. I want to have this completed in 3 months.”

Or, it might look more like “I want to learn to do my own Facebook ads as soon as possible, ideally within the next month.”

This kind of data, we can work with.

But there are more variables.

What do you know and what do you NOT know?

Let’s start with the easiest bit. List all of the FACTS that you know about your goal.

What are facts about your goal? Any information about where you currently ARE in relation to your goal, and anything you know you will need to do to get there (even if you don’t know when or how).

For our example that might look something like this:

· Website traffic can be increased with guest posting, referrals and paid traffic.

· My website traffic is currently 500 visitors a month.

· Most of those visitors come from Facebook.

· I have 5 hours a week to work on this goal.

For another goal – like learning a new skill such as Facebook Marketing, it might look something like this:

· My ideal customers use Facebook all the time.

· I know there are similar businesses running ads on Facebook.

· There are lots of training programs on how to make Facebook Ads.

· I am starting from ground zero.

· I can devote 2 hours a day to learning this skill.

Now that you know where you want to be, you need to figure out what you DON’T know about getting there. You wouldn’t climb a real mountain (hopefully) without a good long think about the things that might kill you (weather conditions, amount of food you’ll need, are there Yeti?)

The digital equivalent is taking a look at your goal and asking yourself “Do I see a clear path through the different steps I will need to take to get there?” (If the answer was yes, you’re not reading this post.)

So you need to identify what you DON’T know. There’s a few ways to do this.

1. Ask someone who did what you want to do. Ask colleagues, mentors, business owners, FB groups, anyone you have access to.

2. Google. Just google your goal along with the words “How to” This should give you at least SOME information about the things you’re going to need to consider.”

If I were asking a mentor about how to achieve the goal in the example, the might be able to tell me something like “you can expect to get 50 new subscribers from every guest post on a big blog” or “don’t bother with Facebook ads, they don’t work in our industry” or “your traffic doesn’t matter unless you’re building an email list.”

A good hour on Google could tell me similar things – so use the resources you have available. Add these new facts to your existing list.

Now you’ve got a list of things you know and a sense of where you are and where you want to be.

It’s time to plan your hike.

Mapping the Route

To the best of my extensive knowledge (careful viewing of every mountain climbing movie since 1997), experienced and effective climbers break their climb into chunks, with different stops and milestones along the way. You’re going to do exactly the same thing using all of the beautiful information you have gathered for yourself.

For the more visual among us, jotting this down on a piece of paper can be exceptionally helpful.

Start by comparing your goal to where you are right now.

If you have numbers attached to your goal, this is simple, you can break them into chunks and spread them out along your timeline between today and your end date.

· 500 monthly visitors now.

· 750 monthly visitors in 30 days.

· 1500 monthly visitors in 2 months.

· 3000 monthly visitors in 3 months.

Now for each of these, list between 3 and 5 things you will DO to hit that goal.

Getting from 500 to 750 visitors

· Write at least 4 guest posts to direct traffic to my blog.

· Join and engage on 3 Facebook Groups

· Send emails to 7 colleagues to tell them about my site and ask if they will share.

· Run an ad on Google to try and get more traffic.

Do the same for each individual milestone you have identified.

Why 3-5? That tends to be a number of things someone will actually DO. More than that is overwhelming, less probably won’t be enough work – but of course, your mileage will vary depending on your goal, amount of available time, and work habits.

Take the different steps you are going to accomplish to meet your milestone and put them in your calendar. Schedule them. They are the mini-steps you are going to take to start making progress.

When you hit the date that you should have reached a milestone, say 1 month in and 750 monthly visitors, up from 500, you can take a look at your email list and see if you have reached 200 new subscribers in the last – you’re good! On track. No need to eat your climbing partner.

For a different type of goal, like learning Facebook Marketing, you will break things down differently.

Since you are starting from nothing, you may decide you want to be good enough to at least build, promote and track your own ads within a month. So the Milestones you create might look like this:

· Step 1: Research Facebook marketing best practices.

· Step 2: Create First Ad, and tweak as you see performance.

· Step 3: Run multiple ads with small differences and compare results.

· Step 4: Compile list of personal best-practices, and see if you can replicate them.

· Step 5: Start optimizing for the best prices on clicks and likes.

Unlike a numbers based goal – for learning a new skill, it can be best to decide how much time you want to devote to each step before evaluating if what you’re doing is working.

After researching, you feel you should be able to create your first ad in under 2 hours. So when you start working on it, start a timer, and see if you are finished at the end of your allotted time.

When you stop and check in to see if you hit your market or milestone, and find you didn’t – that’s okay. You now have a lot more information to use to improve your plan, and achieve the next level on your way to the top. Go back to your list of milestones and adjust for what worked and what didn’t, then get going on accomplishing that first chunk of your larger goal again.

Let’s Recap, then set out!

High level, what you’re going to do to break down your big goal into achievable chunks is the following:

1. Figure out exactly where you want to be an when.

2. Identify what you know.

3. Try to learn what you don’t know – then find out and add it to what you know.

4. Use either numbers or other measurable goals to set smaller milestones between where you are and where you want to be.

5. List action steps you are going to take to achieve each milestone.

6. Do it, and evaluate when you start hitting milestones.

And all without having a hire a Sherpa!

Megan Dougherty (@MeganTwoCents) is teaching new online entrepreneurs how to tech their tech over at the Newbie Academy. If you’ve ever wondered what goes on behind the scenes when a new subscriber joins your list, check out the definitive explanation in “How a Stranger Becomes a Subscriber”

]]>http://renegadeplanner.com/guest-post/breaking-hard-jobs-achievable-chunks/feed/07 things to have set up before you hire your first employee or VAhttp://renegadeplanner.com/business-plans-2/7-things-set-up-before-hiring-your-first-employee-or-va/
http://renegadeplanner.com/business-plans-2/7-things-set-up-before-hiring-your-first-employee-or-va/#respondTue, 09 Aug 2016 21:00:53 +0000http://renegadeplanner.com/?p=6077Read More »]]>A guest post by Kayla Curry

If you’re a business owner and you’re just getting started, chances are you haven’t hired your first employee or virtual assistant yet. As your business grows, you’ll need to bring on more and more people to help you with the operations you’re currently running yourself.

While the process of hiring help can be intimidating and you may not know where to begin, you can’t let that hold you back.

Think back to your first job, or your last job working for someone else. How did your employer treat you? How did they handle things like communication, time-tracking, and other systems and policies?

I often think about my employment past and use it to make my business better. My first “real” job was at a local park where we sold concessions and ran rides for kids. I was 16 at the time and a few years later, I was the assistant manager at that same park.

It was that position, and other positions I’ve held in the online world more recently, that taught me how to make sure an employee has everything they need to be successful in their new job or career and I’d like to pass that knowledge on to you today.

A clear set of policies, processes, and systems between an employer and their employee is crucial to building a team that works well. Whether you’re a brick and mortar business owner, or someone who does everything online, there will come a time when you need help. I put this list together to help guide you as you prepare to hire your first employee or virtual assistant. Here are the 7 things you need to set up before hiring:

Expectations

Before you do anything, you need to sit down and come up with a list of what you expect from your employee. Ask yourself these questions:

What tasks will my employee be responsible for?

What tasks will they rely on me to do before they can complete their work?

What rules and guidelines will I impose on my employees? (Dress code, moral code, level of professionalism.)

Budget, Wages, and Legal Set Up

After you have your expectations set, you’ll know about how much their work is worth to you. From there, you can decide how many hours per week you’ll need them and what their wages will be for that work.

Next, you’ll need to get all the legal things squared away. Hiring an employee may mean different things in different states and countries, so be sure to check out the employment laws where you live.

If you’re hiring a virtual assistant, they would be considered a sub-contractor instead of an employee. This means there are different rules for hiring and you’ll have to check to see what procedures you may need to follow depending on where you live. Talk to your tax professionals and attorneys about how to do this.

Contract

If you’re hiring an employee, you don’t have to worry about contracts as much. You may want to have them sign your code of conduct or something along those lines, but chances are you won’t have to worry about an actual contract if you’re paying hourly wages. If they will be dealing with sensitive information, you may need to have them sign an NDA (non-disclosure agreement). If that’s not the case, focus on making sure you’re compliant with the employment forms required by law.

If you’re hiring a virtual assistant, a contract is essential. You can likely find a template online and some virtual assistants keep their own, but if you have specific expectations, it’s important to have your own made up and have it looked over by an attorney.

Contracts can save you headaches down the line if the sub-contractor takes your money but doesn’t do the work. It’s also important to keep records of the work you assign to your sub-contractor and monitor when the work is completed–but we’ll get to that soon.

Time-Tracking System

If your employee or virtual assistant is working on an hourly wage or working only a set number of hours per week or month, you’ll need a time-tracking system.

There are a number of ways you can do this. Programs online will allow you to monitor and easily calculate hours for wages. Toggl is the free program we used back when I was a virtual assistant, but if you want one that can’t be tampered with, you’ll likely have to pay for the software.

You can also go old-fashioned or not-so-old-fashioned and get an actual time clock. The latest in time clock technology uses fingerprints to ID the user.

Communication

Communication is the most important part of the relationship between you and your employee. Make sure your communication system is simple, comprehensive, and organized.

If you’re running a brick and mortar and want to go analog (paper) with your communication, I suggest using a notebook as a daily log. Have employees log any pertinent information into the book and any employee coming onto their shift can read through the log to see what they missed and what they need to know.

If you’re hiring a virtual assistant or want to go digital, I suggest using Slack. They have a free basic plan that will allow you to communicate with your team in categorized channels. It’s like having a social media platform just for you and your employees. There’s also the ability to direct message team members so a conversation can be private if needed.

Processes and Systems

If you own a brick and mortar, it’s important to have a notebook with your processes and systems typed out for easy reference. If an employee is unsure how to do a certain task or how to do it efficiently, a book with systems and processes will save you time and money.

This notebook can be introduced during training and you can even use it to develop training materials like quizzes and videos down the line.

An online business or a brick and mortar that utilizes digital tools might use Quip to record systems and processes. Quip allows you to add clickable checklists right into the document or spreadsheet. The documents can be shared with your employee, VA, or sub-contractor and used over and over again with easy duplication. They also have a mobile app that seamlessly provides access to all your documents. They also have a basic free plan to start you out.

Task Management System

A good analog system for tracking tasks in a brick and mortar is the “shift sheets” technique. In most businesses, different things need to be done each shift. There are recurring tasks which can be typed up and printed out. The checklist can either be laminated and combined with a dry erase marker to be reused, or printed daily to use and file if you want to track who’s been doing the tasks.

At the bottom of the sheet, you can leave a space for one-time tasks to be written in and completed during that shift. Employees would use their initials to check off an item, so you know who did what.

If you’re hiring a VA or want to use a digital system, you can use Airtable, a free online platform that will allow you to build the perfect task management system for your business. It can also track many other things, so you may want to check it out anyway. If you’re using it to track tasks, you can have one tab for recurring tasks and another for one-time tasks. Assign priorities, dates, and team members to a task. Plus you can comment on each record or task to provide updates to the team.

Access to Relative Company Resources

Employees and virtual assistants will need access to certain tools and resources in order to do their job. Take a look at the list of responsibilities you made when you set up your expectations and use that to determine what your employees will need access to and the best way to give them access without compromising security concerns.

For physical tools and resources such as forms, equipment, and other items, you may need a filing cabinet, cupboard, or back office area to keep these things. Chances are you’ve already got the things in place, you just have to make sure your employee knows where they are and how to access them.

For digital tools and resources, you’ll want to make sure your team has access to the right accounts and files. LastPass is free and can be used to give access to your online accounts. This would come in handy for a social media manager or any sub-contractor that needs access to your personal accounts. File sharing can be done in a number of places. Google Drive is free for up to 15 GB, but there’s also Dropbox and plenty of others. You can set different permissions in all the places I mentioned to suit your needs and control who has access and how they can use the files.

In conclusion, having these systems and protocols in place before you hire an employee or virtual assistant will make life easier for you and your new team member while also saving you time and money in the future. Please make sure you’re doing everything “by the book” when it comes to hiring employees and virtual assistants legally.

Let’s review the steps really quick:

Come up with your expectations.

Get budget, wages, and legal things squared away.

Decide how you’ll track time put in by your new team member.

Set up proper communication avenues.

Get processes and systems in order and make them accessible to your team member.

Decide how you’re going to track delegated tasks.

Set up secure access to tools, resources, and equipment.

Taking this step in your business is BIG and it can seem intimidating, but if you want your business to grow, this is a necessary step. Once you hire your first team member, you’ll get past that fear and be able to do it over and over again. You might consider talking to someone who has already taken the big step to see what other challenges you might expect.

Have you hired your first employee yet? Are you planning to hire someone soon?

—

Bio: Kayla Curry is a coach who focuses on productivity, setting goals, starting habits, and boosting confidence. She loves figuring out creative ways to overcome problems. To find out more about Kayla and how she can help you reach your dreams, visit courses.kaylacurry.com.

]]>http://renegadeplanner.com/business-plans-2/7-things-set-up-before-hiring-your-first-employee-or-va/feed/0From Idea to Open: How to Get Organized to Launch Your First Businesshttp://renegadeplanner.com/business-plans-2/from-idea-to-open-how-to-get-organized-to-launch-your-first-business/
http://renegadeplanner.com/business-plans-2/from-idea-to-open-how-to-get-organized-to-launch-your-first-business/#respondTue, 02 Aug 2016 20:35:36 +0000http://renegadeplanner.com/?p=6065Read More »]]>So you’ve had this AWESOME business idea floating around in your head for what seems like forever.

You think about it when you’re driving to work, you think about it in the shower, you think about it at 3 in the morning while your dog is snoring in the hallway.

Have you ever thought about what to DO with that idea? Or does it all just seem really overwhelming?

If all you do is THINK about your business, the chances of you ever taking action to make it a reality are slim.

Subconsciously you know this. And that may be why you never write your plans down. Because writing sets the wheels in motion. Writing makes it real.

Well I don’t see anything wrong with that. Let’s make it real!

Here are a few simple ways you can start getting organized to plan and launch your new business – so you can stop thinking about ideas, and start getting ready for your grand opening.

1. Write things down.

Don’t worry about organizing your ideas just yet, but when you think about how you’d like your business to operate or what you’d like to do with your ideas, put them on paper or in Evernote or in a Google doc. Just the process of getting your thoughts out into words is going to give you immense clarity and energy to focus on your business.
The important thing to remember here is that the format you use is irrelevant. You’re not writing proposals or a business plan right now. You’re just putting your ideas out in the open so they can start to take shape. Even if it’s just post-it notes on the fridge, when you get inspired and exciting about that business idea that’s been swimming around in your head for six years, write stuff down (and keep it all in the same place, too!). You’ll be amazed at how much this alone will build your confidence and prepare you for entrepreneurship.

2. Create a simple “elevator pitch”.

I actually kind of hate the term elevator pitch, but it’s the simplest way to describe the process of concisely describing exactly the problem you solve, and who you solve it for. This makes it super easy to explain your idea so people understand it right away – and being able to do this helps get others to take you seriously. With a great little elevator pitch, you immediately become more credible; you’re not just floating around with vague ideas and no execution.

Okay, but you’re thinking “HOW do I create my elevator pitch?” Well, think of it more like a problem-solution statement: “My company, (name of company), solves the problem of X for Y type of people by offering Z product or service.”

Be super specific about all three of these things. Saying you fix computers for small business owners by offering a repair service is way too vague.

Instead, try something like “My company ensures that solopreneurs in the Atlanta area always have up to date laptops that run as fast as possible, so they never have to worry about lag when they’re creating time-sensitive material for their clients, recording podcasts or getting projects done on a tight deadline.”

Which one is more compelling? I hope you think it’s the second one. See if you can create a similar statement about your own business.

3. Pick a launch date.

Nothing makes starting a business more real than deciding exactly when you’re going to start it. Choose a date that’s far enough in the future for you to plan, but not so far that you procrastinate about actually doing it.

How far in the future that is really depends on you, and your life. Do you take a trip to Hawaii every year in December? Then don’t try to launch your business on January 1. Think about how much time you can realistically devote to your business each day, and make your timeline based on that. Be ambitious, but realistic.

HOT TIP: Tell as many people as possible about your launch date. Chances are at least a couple of them will hold you to it and keep you accountable!

4. Give yourself a financial health check.

Okay, this is really important. Be sure you are financially ready for entrepreneurship. That doesn’t have to mean tens of thousands in the bank (I only had $2,000 when I started, and my launch budget was $200). It means that you can support yourself and your family for 3-6 months with NO MORE INCOME coming in. Assume that you won’t make any money for the first few months (even if that’s not true).

And, if you’re looking to use someone else’s money to start your business, you still have to have some of your own. Most banks want you to have 25% of the total amount you need. And investors like to see you putting your own skin in the game, too.

Be prepared for your business to cost more than you think it will, and then you get to be delightfully surprised when you come in under budget.

Here's a Step-By-Step Checklist for Starting Your Business
(it's FREE, it's one page, and it'll get you organized)

Introduce yourself and your program

Your information will *never* be shared or sold to a 3rd party.

5. Decide to go in for the long haul.

What I mean by that is you’re probably not going to be an overnight success. Building a business takes time – years, usually – and there will be many failures along the way. It’s what you learn from your failures that matters, as well as your dedication to the outcome. Learn from your mistakes, let yourself be coached, and surround yourself with successful people until you become them.

Think these tips will help you prepare for the launch of your new business? Leave a comment and let me know what other questions you have about starting a company.

I mean really. You come up with this incredible idea for a business. One that’s going to change the lives of thousands or millions of people. Something you’re passionate about.

So you decide to go for it. Write a business plan. Get some financing.

The first thing you do is go download a business plan template from a bank website or a small business resource site.

You get through the Business Overview section fast, because that’s easy – it’s just what your business is about and what you’re selling.

But then the template starts to choke you.

Marrrrkeettttt Reeeesearrrrch…..

SWOT Analyssiiiisssss….

Zzzzzzz…..

And pretty soon you’re forgetting why you were so excited about this business in the first place and you hate the template and you just want to quit. EVERYTHING.

It’s already too hard.

Business plan templates suck.

You know what works better? A planning framework.

Yes, it’s more than just rhetoric. A framework is flexible. Actionable. Focused on the specific problem your business solves – the thing that gets you SO jazzed anytime someone asks you about it.

Get your framework in place and the business plan becomes way easier. Maybe even…enjoyable?

So screw the template and download this free report where I’ll share my entire planning framework with you.

It’s the step I take with every client BEFORE I start writing their business plan. And it’s why I’m able to write them super fast and make lenders and investors want to empty their pockets on the spot.

Quit Procrasting and Write Your Business Plan

Kill that useless business plan template and use this 6-part framework instead (it's FREE)

Your information will *never* be shared or sold to a 3rd party.

Of course, you’ll probably have to fill in a template eventually, because lenders expect to see information presented in a certain way. But you can make it an easy fill-in exercise if you have the framework I teach in the free download I gave you above.